Lift mechanism for plastic tray on CDLR Conveyor

[razor45]

I need to design a mechanism to lift the plastic tray (light green colored object on top of rollers) roughly 3" off of the conveyor rollers. The mechanism will have to extend in between rollers from underneath. The tray is very light weight...maybe 4 lbs. so I'm thinking pneumatic powered. The tray will have empty plastic bottles on it which will add very little additional weight. I've thought about 4 individual cylinders but I'm concerned that they would extend at slightly different speeds causing the tray to tilt and/or tip or move bottles. I've also thought about an individual cylinder with a plate and bearing guides which would lift at one speed but my concern with that approach is possible binding of the bearings. I could do a version of a scissor lift but with the weight I'm lifting that seems to be overkill. Any design ideas on this would be appreciated. This will be lifting a tray roughly every 5 minutes in production so I need something that is trouble free from a maintenance standpoint.

 

[dvd]

Guided cylinders might work for you

 

[razor45]

Guided cylinders might work for you

View attachment 2774

Yes...I have thought about that but i'm concerned about synchronizing two or more cylinders.

 

[dvd]

Are these going to be used for the pop-up roller chain cross-transfer shown in your sketch? You could get the transfer mechanism to pop-up using Airstroke Actuators - see this example. I have used these before.

 

[MintJulep]

Simple bell crank mechanism driven by a single actuator, preferably electrical.

 

[goutam_freelance]

Conceptually, two scissor lifts with a single pneumatic cylinder at base may give good control on horizontality of tray.

 

[MintJulep]